A jury has been ordered to find a Leamington-based graphic designer not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence for the trial to continue.

Judge Marten Coates instead directed the jury to formally find Michael Proctor, 31, of Leam Terrace, guilty of a lesser charge of careless driving, which he had admitted.

The jury was told 20-year-old Simon Hayes died after being struck by Proctor's car in a hitand-run as he walked home along Lillington Road after a night out in May last year.

Proctor admitted further charges of failing to stop after the accident and failing to report it.

The judge said Proctor's behaviour had been "quite disgraceful" as he told police several lies about the night of the accident, then disappeared to hide out at his parents' home in Darlington for a month.